Korean Thanksgiving
Having the first name Kim in a room full of Koreans is a joke waiting to happen - something I found out Sunday during the Juneau Korean Church's celebration of Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving.

Municipal elections today
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. today in a municipal election to determine who will hold three seats on the Juneau Assembly, three seats on the Juneau School Board, and two ballot propositions asking voters to hike up tobacco taxes and to authorize borrowing for renovations at Gastineau Elementary School.

Recession thins college recruiters
Several hundred students from Juneau's high schools got a little guidance toward life after graduation at an annual college and career fair held at Thunder Mountain High School Monday.

Photo: Mobilizing service
From left, Day of Caring campaign co-chairman Lance Stevens, co-chairwoman Mary Becker, United Way office manager Becky Hildebrand and United Way president Brenda Hewitt gather Saturday for the volunteer event. United Way of Southeast Alaska matched approximately 90 volunteers from 14 Juneau workplaces with 16 projects at Juneau-area nonprofit organizations, where the volunteers donated time, skills and labor to complete service projects.

Photo: Celebrating Yup'ik traditions
Guest artist Ossie Kairaiuak of Chefornak leads a Yup'ik song and dance, "Seal Hunt," on Saturday during the Yup'ik Traditions Family Festival at the Alaska State Museum. In conjunction with the Yup'ik science exhibit, the festival included interactive centers showing kayak hunting, bentwood hats, snow goggles and others. The exhibit will run through Oct. 17.

Photo: Up and over
Sierra Baker, 11, leads her dog Princess, over an obstacle ramp Sunday at Melvin park during a training. Baker, who turns 12 Wednesday, is the youngest member of the Capital Kennel Club of Juneau. She is training for an agility trial next summer.

State could be hurt by student loan bill
The U.S. House recently approved a big money-saving move in the federal student loan program. The federal government will stop guaranteeing loans financed by private lenders and replace them with less costly student loans financed directly with Treasury funds. By cutting out the middleman, the federal government expects to save somewhere around $80 billion over 10 years. The savings come from what private lenders would have collected as profits on the loans, which carry virtually no risk thanks to the government guarantee. Making those low-risk, government-backed student loans proved highly profitable, and it mushroomed into a multibillion-dollar business.

An overused 'privilege'
The George W. Bush administration undermined the rule of law in many ways, but one particularly egregious example was its overuse of the "state secrets privilege."

A better shield law needed
President Obama has long said that he supports a law protecting the relationship between journalists and their sources. But his administration's latest proposal hardly reflects that. The language it has given the Senate Judiciary Committee belies the president's stated support for having judges balance the public interest in news gathering against the need to compel disclosure of a journalist's sources.

Why do I mistrust Fox? Let me count the ways
Perhaps you are familiar with an old saying: even a broken clock is right twice a day. I've found that maxim valuable as I wade through the recent hand-wringing and recrimination among journalists and their critics over the fact that most mainstream media were slow to pick up on the story of corruption at ACORN.

Sending children to prison for life
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in two cases, Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida, that will decide whether it's cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a 13-year-old or a 17-year-old to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The court should follow its prior reasoning in Roper v. Simmons, a 2005 ruling that held the juvenile death penalty unconstitutional, and similarly draw a bright line at 18 years of age for imposing life sentences without parole.

Letterman's 'creepy' behavior
In olden days when "a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking" there was a morals clause written into an actor's film contract. The purpose was to restrain an actor from engaging in public behavior that might offend the audience and harm ticket sales.

Photo: JDHS tennis heads to state
Laurel Messerschmidt, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School, returns a serve Sunday at the JRC. Messerschmidt won the girls' singles tournament. Messerschmidt, along with seven teammates, will represent JDHS at state in Anchorage. A state review will appear in Tuesday's Empire.

Of moose and men
During the drive to the 2009 Alaska State High School Cross Country Running Championships in Palmer, a large metal sign along the Glenn Highway told me to "Give Moose a Brake." I snickered at the cute word change, but then I realized it was the perfect sports story opening - after all, the Palmer High School mascot is a moose.

Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
ON THE PORCUPINE RIVER TUNDRA, Yukon Territory - Here on the endlessly rolling and tussocky terrain of northwest Canada, where man has hunted caribou since the Stone Age, the vast antlered herds are fast growing thin. And it's not just here.

Veterans gather at Eagle River missile site
ANCHORAGE - A group of mysterious buildings stand silhouetted on top of Mount Gordon Lyon above Eagle River. They are what remain of a Cold War-era Army Air Defense Command Nike missile site known as Site Summit.

After layoffs, new health center is born
DILLINGHAM - Dillingham resident Joan Junge has delivered about 250 babies during her career as a nurse practitioner and midwife. Birthing is where the miracles are, she says.

Alaska meat plant is humming along
DELTA - It started with 15 head of Galloway cattle he brought up from North Dakota. At the time, Doug McCollum was owner and operator of Delta Concrete. But his heart was in ranching, and he was testing the waters to see if a market existed for locally raised and processed meat.